Music from behind the Bridge

"Finally, a work that brings the sophisticated musical sensibilities of steelbands to the centre and investigates the powerful hold that competition has over steelband aesthetics! Dudley's book is an insightful romp through the world of pan from the yards to the Savannah, but his ear is keenly tuned to the arrangements, style, and, most generally, sound of pan ensembles. This is an important book about creativity and passion for music in a developing, postcolonial nation." --Gage Averill, Dean of Music, University of Toronto
"Dr. Dudley's Music from behind the Bridge is an elegant study of Trinidad's steel pan, the best written thus far. In this book, Dr. Dudley demonstrates a rare understanding of, and much respect for, the West Indies in general and Trinidad in particular. Readers of Music from behind the Bridge will learn not only about the emergence and evolution of the steel pan as a musical instrument, but will also grasp the social and political significance of steel bands and of the music they play. Dr. Dudley writes beautifully about peoples, situations and events that liken Trinidad to other Caribbean countries/nations. Music from behind the Bridge fosters a unique understanding of music in Caribbean societies, not just in Trinidad. A masterpiece." --Dominique Cyrille, Assistant Professor of African and African American Studies at Lehman College (CUNY)
"Shannon Dudley reveals to us in new ways the human depth and sonic richness of Trinidad and Tobago's steelband tradition. His study does much more than show how a vernacular music became a critical part of a nation-building project based on ideas of modernist reform in a postcolonial setting; it presents a beautifully balanced picture of the tensions inhering in this process. Tacking between "elite" and "folk" perspectives and aesthetics, giving equal time to ideologies and values inherited from the past and the nuanced musical thinking of individual performers and arrangers creating in the present, Dudley triumphs over the reductionist tendencies that often hamper discussions of the relationship between music and politics. Through it all, the artistry and sheer creative energy of the practitioners of pan shine through." -- Kenneth Bilby, Rockefeller Fellow at the Center for Black Music Research, Columbia College Chicago